Moving . . . or not

Photo: kitchen before and after the paint-over.

I'm one of those rare women who LIKES to move. There's something about settling into a new place and redecorating that just thrills me. I wouldn't want to do it every year, of course, but I just figured out how many times we've moved since we came to Florida--four times--and how long we stayed in each house. The longest was eight years, so we have moved an average of once every 5.5 years.

But I really LIKE this house, and even though we've been here seven years, I don't want to move. Plus, the market is terrible, and though we've always lost money on the houses we sell (I have a tendency to over-improve), we'd take a real bath if we moved during this market downturn. So I have to stay put and quell my urges to Start Over.

Or maybe not. I have decided that the best way to satisfy my urges and keep the budget intact is simply to redecorate. And I'm not talking about major expenditures. I've been watching that "Sell This House" show that airs on Saturday mornings, and I think I can do a lot to make the house look and feel different by simply investing in . . . paint.

And so I've been formulating grand plans. I'm going to try to repaint/redecorate one room per month, until my urges have died down and the house looks fresh. Seven years ago when we moved in, the trend was toward Mediterranean colors, bold golds and cranberries and oranges. Now I've noticed that colors are more muted, and a model house I recently walked through was painted top to bottom in a lovely light mint green. That seems appropriate for a house near the beach, doesn't it?

In any case, last night I redid my kitchen, in the simplest way. The walls are gold and I LIKE my gold walls, so I kept those. But I had a bay window lined with cranberry, so I painted that over again in a light peach. Also painted over the bold green and gold stripes beneath the island (not pictured--I did those on another whim last month). Not a huge change, but brighter. One small step in the grand scheme.

I'll try to post some pictures as my projects progress. I'm thinking of doing the cranberry bath and master bedroom in light aqua, the violet dining room in mint and purple, moving my office from deep green to a light butterscotch . . . who knows? :-)

~~Angie